Letter to The Editor

to THE AUSTRALIAN
     There is no doubt that Wagner was a great musical genius (‘Wagner’s chorus of racial hatred’, 13-14/5), but there is also a strange tone or timbre in much of his work that causes unease and may be the musical expression of a powerful and self-indulgent egoism. There is also no doubt that he published commentary on Jews and Judaism which is an embarrassment to his admirers. However, he was not the first or the last genius to have serious personal deficiencies.

     The parable of the tares suggests that the wisest approach to such people is to harvest what is valuable and leave aside that which is not. Wagner’s greatest works - beautiful, profound and spiritual - are a worthy contribution to Western and even world culture. The man can be adversely criticised for his own faults, but not fairly for the faults of those who came after him. And, after all, not everything he wrote about Jews is wrong. Like any other people they have their limitations and failures.
NJ, Belgrave, Vic